UPS international shipments are still experiencing delays of up to 24 hours out of the UK,following the enforced closure of several of the company’s air cargo screening and other facilities
last week due to security violations.Sources at UPS told CEP-Research today that some UK international shipments were being truckedto the express operator’s main European air hub in Cologne, Germany, and were being flown on fromthere, although some shipments were also being flown out of the UK. It is unclear whether these UPSshipments being flown from the UK are currently only using third-party airlines, or also going outon UPS’s own capacity.
Some UK domestic shipments and inbound international shipments are also understood to beexperiencing delays, particularly to outlying areas of the UK normally served by overnight airexpress services, connecting via UPS’s main UK hub at East Midlands Airport (EMA). These are beingserviced at the moment by road in most cases. Some of UPS’s facilities at EMA are said to be stilloperating, but on a limited basis.
A source at UPS said the company was hoping to get things back to normal by the end of the week,although it remained unclear how this would be achieved. No-one at UPS was able to clarify at thetime of writing.
CEP-Research understands that the closures were imposed on UPS around 10 days ago by the UKgovernment’s Department for Transport (DfT), following a review of UPS’s security procedures andprocesses by DfT inspectors. The inspections identified security violations, resulting in itrestricting the number of sites in the UK at which UPS is permitted to screen air cargo, until UPShas satisfied the UK’s current security requirements – including at its main UK air hub EastMidlands Airport.
UPS and other air cargo operators have been under particularly close scrutiny by aviationsecurity authorities since last October, when a viable explosive device shipped from Yemen wasfound hidden in a printer-toner cartridge within the UPS air express system at East MidlandsAirport (EMA). It had been flown, undetected, from Dubai to EMA on a UPS freighter, and waseventually found after a tip-off from security services. A similar device was also found within theFedEx system in Dubai.
UPS said it was unable to discuss the nature of the security violations, but confirmed that somefacilities had been temporarily taken offline, leading to delays in the movement of somepackages. The company said last Friday that it had activated contingency plans, communicatedwith customers and expected service levels to return to normal early this week. However, UPSsources confirmed today to CEP-Research that there are still ongoing delays to shipments.
